The American Defense research agency DARPA entrusted Northrop Grumman with the design of an underwater surveillance system based on biological elements, the PALS program[efn_note]Persistent Aquatic Living Sensors[/efn_note]. To do this, the industrialist will select and then interface biological entities that are very sensitive to variations in the marine environment with an artificial intelligence that will interpret and classify the signals, before transmitting them.
The use of biological sensors will make it possible to extend not only the perceptual capacities of the system, but its resistance in the marine environment, very hostile by nature for metallic elements, for example. In addition, this approach should make it possible to reduce the energy consumption of the system, and therefore significantly increase its autonomy.
The association of biological and electronic elements, called “Bionics”, represents very important Defense opportunities, both for interfacing / extending the capacities of the human body, and for developing new sensors and effectors.